Rockets-Warriors was the ultimate series. They brought the best and worst out of each other

Game 7s are the most exciting moments in an NBA playoff series not because of the quality of play, but because of the anticipation built up from the previous games and the finality of it being winner-take-all.

By the time a Game 7 comes around, you’ve seen everything there is to see from both teams. Coaches have shown all their cards, and the superstars and relevant role players have delivered performances to justify and boost their reputations. Everyone arrives to a Game 7 bruised, battered, and exhausted, which makes it a perfect stage for every sporting cliche about toughness, determination, and the transcendence of the human body and spirit.

Nowhere was it more true than in this epic Western Conference Finals. Rockets vs. Warriors was an awesome spectacle that has seen each team push the other to its limit, with both finding a way to overcome and surprise each other and the audience. In the end, the Warriors prevailed after erasing another double-digit deficit, but we can leave with a new appreciation for the greatness of both teams.

Every idea in support and in opposition to both teams was proven and disproved twice over. The Warriors went into Houston in the first game and won, showcasing their greatness and making a mockery of the home-court advantage Houston fought so hard to gain. Houston responded by blowing the Warriors out in Game 2, justifying their regular season record and the arguments that they were the best challenge to the reigning champions.

Then, the Warriors went to Oakland and returned the favor in a crushing manner, winning by more than 40 points. At that point it was hard to see how the Rockets could have any chance against the Warriors, especially with the next game in Oakland again. This was the Warriors at their most terrifying, the team that almost swept the Cavaliers in last year’s Finals. The defeat was so large and demoralizing that the rest of the series seemed straightforward for Golden State.

Somehow the Rockets managed to do the unimaginable. They went to Oakland, where the Warriors had not lost in the playoffs since That Game in 2016, and turned the game ugly, forced their opponents to be uncomfortable while erasing a 12 point lead in the last 11 minutes.

Then, they went home and won again, with Chris Paul making impossible shots and proving that he deserved his status as one of the greatest point guards and competitors to ever live. Two critical defeats in a row was new territory for the Warriors, who hadn’t suffered such an embarrassment since they blew a 3-1 lead against the Cavaliers.

But the victory came at the cost of Paul’s hamstrings for the Rockets. Even though the Warriors were without Andre Iguodala and had several other players ailing, Paul’s injury tipped the series highly in their favor.

No matter, because the Rockets came out the next game defying that idea that Paul’s injury was going to slow them down. They built a 17-point lead going into the second quarter of Game 6, silencing the Oracle crowd. Eric Gordon, who had taken over the Paul role, was on fire, walking down and making threes so nonchalantly, it was as if he was a missing Splash Brother. The Warriors were on the real and unthinkable verge of elimination, at home.

Just as that seemed to be the case, James Harden and Gordon tired out, the superior talent of the Warriors showed up, and Klay Thompson’s ability to turn into the human torch at any given moment fueled the largest single-game turnaround in playoff history.

And then, there was Game 7, where history basically repeated itself. Harden, Gordon, and Clint Capela were on fire in the first half, and P.J. Tucker was snaring loose balls over a disinterested Warriors team. Houston build another double-digit lead. And somehow, the Warriors fired another knockout punch in the third quarter, outscoring Houston by 18 to turn the game around.

Got all that?

This series was full of unexpected victories, blowouts, heroic performances, horrible failures, scapegoats, and ingenious coaching. The stalemate until Game 7 had seen a reduction of both teams to their worst habits. Each has moved away from the pretty and effortless offensive style that has characterized them for the past few years, out of necessity and desperation to beat the only opponent that can match them on both ends. No team had a rhythm going into Game 7. There was no safe bet on who will win.

The game itself lived up to the hype. Houston had home-court advantage, but the Warriors had shown they can win away ... and they can be blown out away as well. The Rockets had shown that they can use the home crowd to power them to victory ... and that they can ignore it and be blown out there. Each team showed that they can grind out ugly victories ... and an equally capable ability to lose large leads.

Game 7, then, was a microcosm of the entire series. This iswasthe part of the fight where the two competitors are injured and worn down. They both did away with trying to win at the full peak of their powers, because they knew the other won’t allow it to happen. The Rockets were built specifically to challenge and restrict the Warriors, and Golden State was forced to slug it out while praying and hoping that their opponent falls before they do. It damn near was a street brawl.

All that made this Game 7 much different than the one that happened in the East.

Unlike the Cavaliers-Celtics series, which can be reduced to the battle between the greatest player of our time and a genius coach tasked with finding an ensemble solution to blunt his own team’s lack of starpower, this Rockets and Warriors series featured two evenly matched teams who have given their all and absorbed the biggest blows of their opponents. Everyone showed and reached their limits. There was nothing left in the tank except the sheer will to win. That’s why Houston missed a whopping 27 threes in a row, despite most being open.

When it’s over, both sets of players deserve to be wrapped in ice and lying on the ground, as LeBron was as his teammates celebrated.

That was the only fitting ending to what has been the best series of this year’s NBA Playoffs. It was one final event after the two teams beat each other down so much, one where every small run was filled with anxiety, hope, and dread.

All that, and the fate of a modern NBA dynasty hung in the balance. This Game 7 really was the perfect matchup.